


Perfect Target

by drrrs



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Organized Crime, Alternate Universe - Police, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Dating, Eventual Smut, Fluff and Angst, Gang Violence, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Psychological Torture, Slow Burn, Swearing, Torture, klangst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-23 14:15:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11991528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drrrs/pseuds/drrrs
Summary: Keith is a Galra mole assuming the role of a police officer at the Altea police station. Lance is an undercover cop posing as Lotor's prized sniper. They keep running into each other outside of their secret line of work. With every meet their attraction for each other grows more intense into something of love. But there's two things that they don't realize with each other:1. They're completely head over heels for each other2. They are both assigned as a mole for their prospective parties. And they are both determined to kill each other for the loyalty of their organization.Inspired by Infernal Affairs, The Departed, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith to some extent lol





	1. First Meeting(s)

Keith hated Lotor. As far as he can remember in the depths of his childhood, he remembered the sneering and vile looks teenage Lotor would give him. They were looks of spite, like he wanted to eat him alive. Whenever Keith would be training with the other Galra gang members, Lotor would creep on the side just glaring him down. Keith knew this was because Zarkon always viewed him as his most skilled soldier. In fact, that was all Keith could remember the majority of his childhood: intense training under the supervision of Zarkon, the head of the infamous Galra gang, and cold stares from his son Lotor.

 

Every memory that he could recall would always lead back to anything relating to Zarkon. The dark brooding man who Keith would call his father watched him fight able bodied men even when Keith was half their size. Lotor would stand next to his father with a toothy smirk, watching Keith suffer fight after fight. Every fight would end with Keith tumbling and turning into the dirt covered in blood and dust with Lotor screaming insults and telling him to fight harder.

 

He couldn’t stand Lotor but he kept going. He wasn’t going to die here, not here, not yet.

 

He ran, low and quick, grab his opponent's legs, and using all of his bodyweight he let out a screaming battle cry and the man went flying. Zarkon and Lotor’s eyes widened at the sudden strength that was exerted from the child.

 

Keith collapsed on his knees and hands gasping for air. He tried to choke back the tears trying not to show he was weak. His arms felt like rubber and as they were going to give in to the ground, footsteps approached him. A finger lifted his cheek and looked up at the man he knew as his father his entire life. “Good work soldier. But not good enough yet.” Before Keith could process, a hand slapped him on the back and he slammed hard on the dirty ground yelping out a cry.

 

“Come on bitch get up!” Lotor yelled at him.

 

Keith choking on his sniffles and trying to get the dirt out of his eyes. He brought his hands to his side to give him support when suddenly a hand grabbed him by the hair. Keith let out another bloodcurdling wail. His blurry eyes could make out that he was now face to face with Lotor. This was the first time Keith had been so close to Lotor as he was always ordered to never touch the boss’s son.  “When I give you orders you obey,” Lotor sneered. “Someday, I’m going to take over Daddy’s spot and you will have to listen to everything I say. So when I tell you to get up, you do it.”

 

Keith tried to slow his quick breathing of anxiety and pain. Lotor really did feel like he was going to pull the hair out of his skull. He tried to eye to the side at Zarkon hoping he would save him like he did that one time when he was attacked by big dogs. But he just stood there with no expression. And that terrified Keith more than anything.

 

Lotor threw him on the ground. “Try again. Get up.”

 

Keith gritted his teeth. The tears were bottled up in his eyes but it was so hard to cry out. There was too much pain and too much dirt to let them all out. He clenched his fists and then released. He pushed with his palms with all his might. He groaned. Everything was so painful. But he can’t show that to Lotor, especially not Zarkon. He can’t show that to Zarkon. He had to show him that he wasn’t the pathetic kid when he found Keith scavenging food in the garbage. He had to show him that it wasn’t a mistake for him to pick him up. He had to show him he was capable of living.

 

When he finally got to his feet Lotor clapped enthusiastically. “Great work Keith. Daddy really wasn’t kidding when he said you’d be the most obedient dog in this whole family.” On the side Zarkon grunted and left. Keith looked wide eyed and let his arm out. He wanted to run to his father-

 

“Keith.” Lotor stepped closer but Keith didn’t take his eyes off of Zarkon. One of his guards greeted him at the door and led him inside. Keith could feel the warm feeling of safety disappearing from his heart but the thought was interrupted by Lotor. “Daddy is dying.”

 

Keith snapped his head at him. The bottled up tears were getting out of control they needed to be released from his large eyes. “W-wh-what?” Keith stammered.

 

“He’s dying. He won’t be able to look after you. That’s why…” He leaned closer to him until they were just a nose tip away. “I’m going to be the new Daddy. Soon you’re going to have to report to me, for real.”

 

Keith felt like the world just ended. He didn’t want to be under this asshole for the rest of his life. He wasn’t even that much older than him. But now that Lotor would soon have the power of being the head boss of the Galra gang, Keith knew he would be so powerless.

 

“Daddy put a lot of praise and work into you and now I can finally see that. You’re going to be the best soldier Galra has ever seen.” He clasped both hands on Keith’s small, but strong shoulders. It surprised him that caused a shock wave for tears to roll down his dirty cheeks. “You really do have the potential to be the frontman of infiltrating our biggest rivalry. Do you know who that is?”

 

No answer from Keith except muffled sniffles.

 

“The cops.”

 

At that point, Keith suddenly remembered. That was always Zarkon’s plan. To train his best men to infiltrate the police since they had a long history. Keith would hope that someday Zarkon would choose him to be placed in the station and to always report back to the family. He wanted that role. He wanted to feel like he was important to Zarkon.

 

“That’s why we are going to keep training you until you are ready,” Lotor continued. “You are going to train with me until you are ready to knock everyone out at the police academy. But you will deem loyalty to me and to the Galra. On the outside, you’re going to be a cop. But in reality, you’re Galra’s dog. Do we have a clear understanding?”

 

More tears flowed and they wouldn't stop.  Lotor was more aggressive than Zarkon and Keith couldn’t stand him. But now that he was going to be in place of Zarkon, Keith would have no choice. There was nothing he can do. Keith was forever in this hell and there was no escape. “Yes sir,” he cracked a small but firm voice.

 

A smile crept from Lotor’s cunning expression. “That’s what I like to hear soldier.”

 

* * *

 

Keith blinked his blurry eyes until everything came clear into his vision. The early morning light from the blinds slowly gave the room a glow from darkness to a muted blue. He squinted at his analog clock. It said 5:00 am on the dot. He took a deep breath relieved that was no longer in the repetitive nightmare of his hellish childhood.

 

Keith rolled to the other side of his bed, cuddling with Peaches, his chubby stuffed hippo to shield him from the light and the knowledge of how early in the morning it was. Peaches was the only clue that remained from his broken childhood. He always had him even before Zarkon found him in the dumpster. He couldn’t remember when he first got Peaches. It was like he was always there with him ever since the beginning of time. And that was fine, because it was a gentle reminder that there were still good things in this world, like fuzzy hippos.

 

He got up and dressed in his track suit and sweatpants. This became a routine for Keith. It was also a way to get the nerves out of his system. Today would be the first day that would be assigned to a new team. He had reached the top of his police class impressing Coran, the head major of his district, passing all the physical tests. The written portion Keith had a little more trouble with, but thankfully he made the right friends when he would spend late nights in the police library with Hunk and Pidge, two officers who were a class above him. All of that training with the Galra really paid off, even with compliments from his classmates telling him that he acted and fought like he could take on a wrestler. One time someone said his fighting style reminded him of a gangster that he saw on one of the missions. Not that it was a compliment he wanted to hear. He needed to keep his identity on the downlow as possible.

 

He downed water and got his new phone and earbuds. He headed out the apartment and was greeted with a fresh smell of dew in the early morning.

 

Then his other phone buzzed. It was one of those old flip phones that no one used anymore. But it was smart cover up. It made Keith look like he was really behind the times and not much into the current technology. It was also a device that the current technology would have a hard time to track, perfect tool to infiltrate the enemy. He pulled up the phone and a message from Acxa, one of Lotor’s main women, read: “Everything going according to plan. Job will be in 2 days.”

 

Keith put the phone away. He got out his smartphone just so he can blend in with everyone else. He didn’t feel like thinking about the Galra right now. He needed to get away from his past but it was something he couldn’t escape from.

 

He searched for a playlist until he found one. It was full of really cheesy 80’s rock screaming about being on the top of the world or ruling the world. Something about the world. It will do. He tied his mullet into a ponytail and started jogging.

 

He had done this routine ever since he was relocated, just to keep up with his fitness. He only encountered a small number of police officers in his life before the academy. He concluded from those observations that they were really fit. They could tackle down criminals in a blink of an eye and hop over fences. Of course he was only basing off of the painful training from Lotor but-

 

Keith needed to stop referring back to his past. The song now changed and he decided to keep his pace down so he wouldn’t breathe so hard. As Lotor had said, from this day on he is no longer a member of the Galra gang on the outside. He is now a new police officer who worked hard at the police academy and is assigned to his first team. It should be exciting. But it was still a job.

 

He remembered Acxa even warned him of how dangerous it was. “I know you’ll do good,” she had said, “you’re the perfect candidate. But you better not die.”

 

“Not until I beat death first,” Keith had said. Keith smirked at the memory. He felt his breath come back so he moved his pace a little faster. He wasn’t the type to show that much pride but it did feel good when the rest of the colleagues acknowledged his skill. Now if only he can also convince his new police team to be on his side.

 

The sun was slowly getting higher in the sky adding some color to the path around Keith. He loved jogging during this time of the day, where he could have the whole neighborhood to himself. It was also a great way for him to get to know the place around him. If people didn’t know who he was, no one would have guessed he grew up in a gang and that he had a mission. He looked like a completely normal person. A person that was minding his own business, until _he_ showed up.

 

No one really shows up during this time of the day since it was so early in the morning. It surprised Keith to even see someone around. And he happened to just appear right in front of him. A tall tanned skin young man in a green jacket and jeans with short brown hair. He seemed to be looking at something up at a tree. Keith should have minded his own business but he was so intrigued to see another human being awake at this time of hour.

 

He jogged towards the man and looked up at the tree with him. He took one of earbuds out to listen closely, if there were birds or something. Without looking the young man spoke, “Do you see anything?”

 

Keith peered closer and stood on his tip toes. There was still nothing. “Just leaves and branches. Like every tree on this street. Is it tree watching day?”

 

The young man laughed. It was a very sweet laugh. “That would actually be something I wouldn’t mind doing for a day. Better than sitting at a desk all day.”

 

Keith also chuckled at his own joke, proud he was able to make one. “Tell me about it.” He turned to the young man for the first time and was shocked to see how incredibly handsome this man was. His skin was smooth and perfect. His incredible features were almost like a cut out of a model. He looked back at Keith with deep blue eyes and a charismatic grin. Keith almost lost his breath over how blue his eyes were. It was such a color that was so vivid that Keith couldn’t believe eyes could have that kind of color.

 

The man then turned back at the tree. He ruffled his hair as if he was embarrassed about something. Keith couldn’t help but think what a cute gesture that was, even though he literally just met him for one minute. “But no actually there’s a cat up there and-”

 

“You lost him?”

 

“Her. I think. I don’t know it’s not my cat.”

 

“Uh-oh. That’s worse. You cat sitting?”

 

“You can say that.”

 

“Your girlfriend’s?”

 

The man laughed again. “Nah don't got one,” he said scratching his cheek shyly. Keith didn't want to get his hopes up but it definitely got his hopes up. The man smiled. “A co worker.”

 

Keith raised his eyebrows in understanding. “Oh man that’s worse. You could be the talk of the office and that ain’t fun.”

 

“Tell me about it.”

 

“Wait.” Keith peered closer to the tree. There was a large black fur ball on one of the branches. A tail slinked from behind and drooped over the branch. “Is it that black blob?”

 

The man stepped closer next to Keith. Keith then realized that this man was about a few inches taller than him. He looked up at the tree and nodded. “Yup that’s the black blob.” He put his hands to his hips. “Now if there was a way to get her down- What are you doing?!”

 

Within a flash Keith started to climb up the tree. Lotor had made him climb on random places during his hell training that included poles, walls, bricks, and concrete. So trees were definitely no problem. He got closer to the cat. He clicked his tongue to get her attention. The cat lazily turned her head. He looked straight dead on into her bright yellow eyes. For some reason, this cat kind of reminded him of Narti’s cat Kova, another one of Lotor’s frontwomen. She was the same breed as well. Keith never liked Kova since he always felt like she was staring in his soul. Unfortunately, this cat was doing the same thing. The cat hissed and pounced away. She gripped on Keith’s arm and he let out cry of profanities. The cat jumped into the man’s arms and held on to her so she wouldn’t escape.

 

“Are you alright?” The man called to Keith.

 

Keith looked at his forearm. There was a small scratch but it wasn’t that deep. He could take on big bodied men in brutal fights but it  bothered him when a small thing like a cat can make cuts like this. “Yeah!” Keith called back.

 

“Do we need to call the fire department to bring you down?”

 

Keith laughed at his lame sense of humor. “No need! Thanks for the offer though.” He swiftly climbed down the tree and jumped landing right in front of the gorgeous man and the demon cat. She hissed as soon as Keith hit the ground. She really was a demon cat.

 

The man tapped the cat’s head. “Hey! That’s rude! He saved your life! Say sorry!”

 

Keith seemed to be giggling a lot. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was so flustered over how adorable this man was or if he was just nervous in general. “Well I’m sure it was just an accident. Cats can be unpredictable.”

 

“Truuuuee that. She just goes all over the place at our work.”

 

“What kind of office lets you bring pets?” The man looked up quizzically. It took a while for Keith to realize he might have overstepped his boundaries. He waved his hands in embarrassment. “Unless that’s not what you do at all and I just automatically assume it’s an office because you kind of mentioned it and that was rude of me to just-”

 

The man burst into laughter. “No need for apologies! I mean we sometimes work at an office. I kind of work at an agency.”

 

An agency? Like he was a spy or something from those old James Bond movies. It almost made him seem like a mysterious figure, but Keith liked that about him. “Dang, that sounds so cool. I wish I can have that job.”

 

The man let out a small laugh and then got quiet really quickly. For some reason, his expression seemed kind of melancholy but he was smiling. “I guess so. It can get dangerous though.”

 

BZZZTTT! Keith yelped at the blaring alarm that rang through his left ear bud. He yanked it out and looked at his phone. It was 6:00. It was almost time to get ready for his first day on the job. “Oh shit.” He must have looked really stupid just now in front of this man.

 

“Is everything alright?”

 

“Oh yeah! It’s just…. It’s kind of my first day on the job… and I need to go so I don’t look like an asshole.”

 

The man nodded. “Yeah that’s cool! You should go and don’t be that guy that shows up on the first day late.” He clicked his tongue and finger gunned at Keith which made him die a little inside.  “And also thanks so much for saving this fella.” He waved the cat’s arm up in the air. “Thank you for saving me Mr. Handsome Stranger!” He mimicked the cat’s supposed voice in a girlish tone.

 

Keith’s heart almost stopped the second time. He just basically called him handsome, in a cutesy voice too. Can this guy get any cuter? “You’re welcome.” He leaned over at the cat and squinted at her. “Make sure you listen to your cat sitter okay? No more running off.” He waved a finger at her as if he was scolding a child. The man chuckled again and for the third time Keith melted inside.

 

He was about to head off as the young man called back to him. “Good luck on the first day! You’re going to do great! Go go go!” He even waved the cat’s arms in the air to show that the cat was supporting Keith too.

 

Keith laughed and waved back. “Thank you and thank you demon cat!” The cat yawned in response.

 

Keith jogged back to his apartment with a rush of blood flowing all over his body. It was such a surprising encounter but he hoped in all of his heart and might that he will see the charming young man again, even though it seem highly unlikely. He kept thinking about his cute laughter and amusing humor when he was interrupted by almost running into the fence just right outside of his apartment complex.

 

* * *

 

The Empire. A family friendly diner! With the exclamation point. Every time Lance went into this diner he felt it was such an oxymoron, knowing what was really behind the operation of this diner. He used to come to this particular establishment with his large Cuban family on Friday nights and now knowing that it was actually a product of money laundering from the Galras, the atmosphere of the so called “family-friendly experience” had turned mundane.

 

Lance still had the cat in his hands that was rescued from the pretty boy earlier. It’s not like he could meet someone as funny and cute outside of work since work pretty much controlled his life. He was still star struck about the cute guy as he pushed the door with his arm.

 

 _Ding-ding._ The small diner still had the same look that Lance was familiar with. The checkerboard tile floor in contrast with the neon pink and green lighting lined up on the crevice of the bar. The old jukebox that Lance and his siblings would rock out to was still there, but it was now used for decoration. The old tattered red booths and chairs were still there but it added to the charm of the place.

 

“Welcome!” A cheerful female voice greeted him. He eyed to see that it was a cute girl in a high red ponytail. She sported a casual outfit of a black t-shirt and jeans who really didn’t look like a waitress. Behind the cheerfulness, Lance knew there was still something cynical behind that smile.

 

“Hey Ezor, where’s Narti?” He asked nonchalantly. He waved the cat with her feet dangling like a swing. “I got her stupid cat back now. Do I pass?”

 

Ezor giggled. “You better ask Narti herself.” She leaned over to the booths. A woman in a black hoodie was facing away from Lance. He walked over and peered over the booth. With the sunglasses and the cool expression, Narti sat calmly sipping her coffee.

 

“Here’s your cat am I free to go now?” He threw the cat on her lap and Narti caught her perfectly without looking up. “So am I? Am I?”

 

Narti pulled the cat closer to her lap and petted her backside making a stream of purrs. Lance was the only person she communicated to in morse code since he had experience in the past but not sign language which it seemed that everyone in the Galra can understand because of her. It surprised Lance at first because he thought she was deaf but this wasn’t the case. She was born mute and lost her sight at a young age in a car accident which is why she relied a lot of her senses on touch and hearing. Her hearing was scary good that it even creeped Lance out sometimes. With her other hand she started tapping on the table in morse code. _“I am not the one to initiate your so called tests since you were the one who insisted it. You have to deem worthy to the boss. But thank you for bringing back Kova.”_

 

“Then where is he? It seems like you’re the only one here. I thought all you Galras love to storm this place.”

 

She tapped again. _“I think Zethrid is in the back.”_

 

“I was asking for the boss not Ronda Rousey.”

 

_“Did you really just compare Zethrid to a wrestler? You’re an asshole.”_

 

Lance chuckled at her dry humor. Out of everyone he met so far in the gang he felt comfortable to Narti the most. Even though for all he knew she probably hated his guts. “I love you too Narti.”

 

Narti’s face scrunched as if she was going to insult him again but quickly tapped when the door jingled again. _“That guy that just came in isn’t supposed to be here. Tell Ezor quick.”_

 

Lance turned around to see a stocky older man hunched over shuffling to the bar. He took a seat at the bar. Unlike this morning, Ezor didn’t greet him. The man’s grizzled face had signs of tiredness and wrinkles that looked like he hadn’t slept in a long time. He waved over to Ezor. “Hey Ezor honey. Can I get one with extra shots.”

 

Ezor, with her usual cheerful self, skipped over to the man and hunched over. “Thace, please don’t call me honey, I’m not your honey. Your wife wouldn’t like that.” That sent shivers up to Lance’s spine. Ezor was definitely cute but speaking to someone in a cheerful condescending tone with those words was truly terrifying. “And boss man said you’re not allowed to be anywhere near here anymore remember? If he finds out you’re here who knows what will happen to you and your little rebel group of buddies like what he did to poor poor Sendak.”

 

Thace scoffed. “Well I don’t see him here, who is going to stop me? You?”

 

Ezor continues to smile. “Obviously. Narti’s there too.” Narti isn’t even responding to the conversation. She continues to sip her coffee and pet Kova. “So please leave. We have the right to refuse service to any customer.”

 

“Because you hate me? That’s a dumbass reason and you know that!”

 

“Thace. Please leave. You don’t want what happened last time to happen this time do you?”

 

Thace clearly wasn’t having it. He leered over and glared at her. “All I asked is a cup of coffee with an extra shot. Then I’ll be on my way. That’s it. Nothing else.”

 

“Thace.” Ezor clearly wasn’t having it but she still kept her creepy smile. “All I asked is for you to leave or you’re going to get hurt.” She inched closer on every word. “Really. Really. Hurt.”

 

Thace slammed his hands on the table and growled at her and was about to throw a punch at her but-

 

“She asked you to leave man.” Thace and Ezor turned back in surprise. Lance was suddenly behind Thace’s back with a pistol pointed directly at his back.

 

Thace smirked in amusement and let out an equally amusing laugh. “What is that? A toy gun?”

 

Lance raised an eyebrow. “A toy gun?” He shot a bullet really close to Thace’s shoe and Ezor yelped by the shock. “Did that shot look like it was from a toy gun to you big boy?”

 

Thace spat. “This is none of your business stick your nose somewhere else kid.”

 

“Alright I won’t. As long as you leave.”

 

“What is wrong with just asking for a cup of coffee?”

 

Another shot. This time it grazed at the tip of Thace’s shoe. “Alright big boy don't  say I didn't warn you. The next time you talk back I’m not going to miss. And you won’t be able to walk home, with coffee or not.”

 

The bigger man laughed softly and lowly. “You think this is a game huh?” He turned around and cracked his neck trying to stand taller than Lance than he already was. “Alright kid this is how we play with the big boys then-”

 

BANG. A bullet pierced through Thace’s shoe. The bigger man fell in excruciating yelping pain. “Look, I’m a man of my word. You talked back and, I just really didn’t want to, but I had to.” Lance couldn’t help but wear a smug smile on his face. He hadn’t felt this badass in a long time. “Now you won’t be able to walk home because poor little Thace didn’t do what he was told to.”

 

Thace growled and glared at Lance with anger eyes. In a second he roared with all his might to throw himself onto Lance. But Lance dodged behind, spun around, put him in a headlock, with the pistol right to his temple. “They didn’t call me sharpshooter back at the academy for no reason.” Lance could feel that Thace was now panicking under his arm. He really did get him cornered. “This shot isn’t going to matter on skill. Even a 10 year could make this shot.” Lance loaded up another round making the terrifying clicking sound. He could feel Thace breathe even harder this time and-

 

A slow clap echoed through the diner. Everyone looked toward the entrance to see a tall beautiful man with the face of a god and silky white hair that seemed like he put way too much effort to make it that long and smooth. He kept on ensuing the clapping. He formed a sly smile that seemed satisfied. “When I was coming here I didn’t expect I was going to also see a show.” He walked closer to them. Lance could also see a woman with dark short hair and serious looking eyes following closely behind the man. The white haired man leaned down at the now pathetic whimpering Thace. “What did you do to piss them off?”

 

“Nothing,” Thace muttered.

 

“Oh clearly you did something, or else you wouldn’t have had a bullet pierce through your foot right there.” The man nodded toward Thace’s foot. The silkiness of his voice was quite soothing to hear but Lance could also feel a disturbance in the tone of his voice. “So you want to share what happened to your dear friend Lotor? Or are you going to be on your way home?”

 

Thace used his arms and pushed Lance away. “Fuck this. I’m leaving.” He limped his way towards the entrance.

 

“Oh Thace?” The long haired man called. That's stopped as he held onto the door handle for leverage. “Next time we see you, you will definitely not get your coffee. Ever.”

 

Thace didn't say anything. He pushed the door as it jingled and slammed it behind him.

 

Lance let out a sigh and put the pistol away. “So you must be Lance.” Lance looked up at the long haired man. He had his arms crossed and still kept the same sly and cunning smile when he walked through the door.

 

“That’s right. How’d you know?”

 

“Narti’s told me about you.” He nodded over towards her. Narti lifted a hand up and signed something. He chuckled. “Seems like she was taking a liking toward you so she took you under her wing.”

 

Lance shrugged. “Yeah well that’s what happens when you witness someone who’s had a pretty good record of not missing a shot.”

 

“Where’d you get that training? That’s clearly not something from some video game bullshit.”

 

“Military.” He lied. Ezor coughed. He looked back but she quickly flashed a smile. She went back to wiping the tables. “I had to drop out due to a uh… physical injury.”

 

“Oh but you’re not injured anymore are you?”

 

“Nope I’m good now. Healed in like 3 weeks. But those fuckers back at the base wouldn’t let me back. Claimed it was ‘too full.’”

 

The man chuckled again. Lance was going to have to get used to this vibe now that he was finally close in his grasp with the man he had been hunting for a year. “You know who I am Lance?”

 

“... Lotor.”

 

Lotor nodded in amusement. He looked back at the short haired girl and nodded her over. She obeyed and came to his side. Then looked at Lance. “Come with me Lance.”

 

Lotor stepped first, then the woman and then Lance following suit. They walked all the way to the back of the diner and into the kitchen. There, Zethrid, the heavy but muscular woman that Lance and Narti were talking about earlier, was cleaning the dishes in the sink. “What happened out there? I heard gunshots?” She asked in a gruff voice.

 

Lotor pointed at Lance. “Zethrid have you met Lance?”

 

“Yeah I’ve seen him hanging out with Narti. He’s kind of annoying.”

 

Lance crossed his arms and left his mouth agape. “Annoying? I just have a lot to say thank you very much!”

 

Lotor continued. “Thace was out there and wouldn’t leave Ezor alone. So our buddy Lance here warded him off.” He looked at Lance to give him some explanation. “Thace was one of mine for a while but he and a couple of his buddies left off and led something like a coup d’etat and it obviously failed since I had better people. So now they’re no longer allowed here unless they want to be killed on sight.” Lance nodded in understanding mouthing an “oh.”

 

Zethrid raised an eyebrow. “Really? It worked?”

 

“Oh but from what I’ve seen, he’s not so bad. Probably after observing a couple of things in the field, he could be our own little sniper.” He clasped his hands together as if he was delighted. “I’ve always wanted to have my own sniper.”

 

Lance cocked his head but tried not to show his pride. “Well… they didn’t call me sharpshooter back in school for nothing.”

 

He let out a chuckle that made Lotor chuckle with him. Good, he was getting him to warm up to him. This was a good sign. Until Lotor pointed at Zethrid.

 

“Search him.”

 

“Wait what-”

 

Zethrid dropped what she was doing and started to grab Lance. “Arms out.”

 

Lance swung his arms out in intimidation. He turned to Lotor as Zethrid began to pat him down. “Why am I being searched?”

 

Lotor put his hands behind his back and walked slowly around the investigation. “Those kind of skills are skills that don’t teach you at the boot camp of the military academy. I would know because I was actually there once.”

 

Fuck, did Lance mess this up? He knew if he said the police academy he probably would have blown his cover. Zethrid ordered him to turn around and she started patting down his whole behind. She reached into his back pocket to take out the pistol he used earlier. She set it on the counter.

 

“But I was also kicked out,” Lotor continued. “For a dumb reason. I accidently let off my weapon at my partner’s head. It was clearly an accident and the worse part was I had to clean it up. Blood and brains and all.”

 

When Zethrid finished patting down all of Lance’s body she pointed at his shoes. “Shoes. Both of them.”

 

Lance rolled his eyes but obeyed anyway. He gave both shoes to her and now standing embarrassingly with his nyan cat pattern socks in front of the most menacing man Lance has ever faced in his life. “But anyways… those skills… those are definitely skills of not a beginner. You’re definitely way more than that. You definitely must have learned it in a span of years… Say how long were you a the military for?”

 

Lance panicked and just blurted out how many years he stayed with the police. “Two years.”

 

“Two years… and how long has it been since you dropped out?”

 

“Almost 9 months.” This was obviously a lie and Lance almost bit his tongue in disbelief he actually said that.

 

“9 months hm? That’s still not enough time to sharpen your skills especially after the military? Especially after they kicked you out. ” Before Lance could answer Lotor just laughed sinisterly.   “But where on earth would they make you keep up your skills like that? The military academy? No. You said you dropped out let’s think of other ones… Hmmm…. Maybe at the police academy? The way you held your gun at that stance is standard police protocol. And trust me, I've seen a lot of cops in my time. Pretty much my entire life.” That sent Lance shivers down his spine. Lotor cocked his head to the side a little. “Or unless you’re some kind of prodigy. But those are rare.” He walked closer to Lance and eyed at his arms. He pointed at them. “You right or left handed?”

 

Lance lifted his right hand. “Right-” Then in a flash Lotor grabbed his right hand and twisted behind his back and Lance went into a screech of pain. “AHHHH NNNNRRRGGG!!”  


Lotor pulled his arm and released with momentum and Lance slammed his right side against the wall. He cried in the sudden pain that was trying to register in his brain. He fell on his side and tried to get up but screamed in pain when pressure crushed his right fingers. “Seems like you rely on this hand. You use this hand to masturbate too?!” Lance couldn’t respond because of intense pressure of Lotor’s shoe. He heard him bellow a sinister sounding laugh. “Tell me are you a cop?!” He leaned closer and started yelling at him. “Are you?! Are you their bitch?! Answer me!”

 

“No! I’m not!” His cries sounded so pathetic but the pain hurt so much.

 

“Are you cop?!” He stomped his foot harder on his hand.

 

“God! No I’m not! I’m fucking not a cop! I’m not a cop! I’m not a cop goddammit!”

 

Lotor gave Lance a final squish and finally lifted his shoe. Lance tried to fight back the tears and gasped all he can to try to get feeling back into his hand. It hurt so much to even wiggle his fingers. “Funny…” Lotor started, “this reminds me of another dog I had many years ago. Now he’s a goner. And you scream more like a bitch.” Lance brought his hand closer and tried to massage it with his other hand. He winched at the touch. “Don’t be that goner, Lance.”

 

Lance looked up with heavy breathing and a small stream of tears. Lotor spat-laughed clearly taking in the entertainment. He turned to the short haired woman. “Acxa, get him some bandages. He’s coming with us to the exchange.”

 

Acxa looked at him in disbelief. “Really? You don’t even know him.”

 

“I will soon.” Lotor started walking towards the kitchen door. He stopped at the entrance without looking back. “Besides, it would be nice to have a sniper in our hands. Especially with a very skilled one that can shoot his gun with his non-dominant hand.” He looked back at Lance with an icy cold stare. “Can’t you Lance?”

 

Lance nodded vigorously. “Yeah, yeah, yeah…” He was running out of breath. He needed to remember to breathe to get all of the blood flowing back into his body and to his hand.

 

Lotor nodded in approval. “Good boy. I’ll see you in a bit.” He opened the doors and left.

 

Acxa rolled her eyes and walked over to Lance and kicked him in the shin causing him to yelp again. “Get up. We don’t got all day.” She walked out of the kitchen door. Then he felt objects being thrown at him and realized it was the pistol and his shoes that Zethrid took earlier. She glared at him with a grunt and went to the very back to get something in the fridge room.

 

Lance hissed and got up slowly using the wall as support. He rested the back of his head on the wall and let out a long sigh.

 

What a morning. First he lost Narti’s cat, then met a cute guy, then threatened an ex-gangster, and got tortured by fucking Lotor of all people. If this was how the Galra welcomed their new members, then Lance was glad it was over. He finally now had access to Lotor.  

 

* * *

8:00 am on the dot. The clock on the wall swung its minute hand and made Keith bounce his leg up and down in impatience. He was not about to be late on the first day of being assigned to a new team. He wanted to have that first impression in hoping that these people would warm up to him. He barely knew anyone at the station, except for Hunk and Pidge, but even then he wouldn’t consider them as close friends. Others he would just pass by and they’d just salute or send their greetings and go off their way. Making friends as an adult was hard.

 

But the young man from earlier. Keith smiled as he remembered his handsome face. Well, he did as he told him not be the guy to be late on the first day. He hoped he could see him again to tell him that. He stopped bouncing his feet as he leaned down trying to hide his smile from passerbys in the hallway. Unnecessary questions ran through his head like: Why was he up so early to chase a cat? Why was he watching his co-workers cat in the first place? Why is he so cute-

 

“Kogane?” Keith almost didn’t register with that name. He almost forgot he put that last name as an alias. He perked up to see two men approaching him. The first was a muscular man of East Asian descendant with a scar grazed across his nose and a tuff of white bangs against his dark hair. Next to him was a smaller caucasian man with really round glasses and hair that looked like he didn’t brush thoroughly but still kind of worked. He kind of reminded Keith of his friend Pidge a little.

 

Keith quickly stood up and saluted. “Yes sir,” Keith replied firmly.

 

The two men saluted back. The muscular man held out his hand to shake. “I’m Captain Shirogane, I’m the one that requested for you from Director Coran Altea.”

 

Keith clasped the the captain’s hand and jumped a little when he realized his hand was a prosthetic hand. “Is that so? Well thank you for wanting me on your team.”

 

The Captain smiled. “Well when I saw you out there passing your physicals and checked your test scores, I felt like you were going to be a great asset to our team. Especially now that we got a special assignment. I felt like with your skills in stealth and combat you could help us out greatly.” Keith nodded in response soaking in all the praise he didn’t expect. Shirogane nodded to the smaller man next to him. “This is my partner in crime Sergeant Holt.”

 

Keith took the other man’s hand for a greeting. “You can call me Matt. Just making things easier that way. I’m the one that will help you direct where to go when Shiro isn’t in the base.” Keith widened his eyes when Matt called the Captain in a casual manner. “Oh you can call him Shiro too, it makes it easier to remember I think. You wouldn’t mind right Shiro?”

 

The Captain coughed seemingly in embarrassment. “Well just for formalities I think it’s okay if you just leave it as Captain Shiro. I hope you understand.” Keith nodded.

 

Matt laughed. “I guess it’s just the politics here at the station but anyway! We are going to be the ones that will oversee all that you do, but he’s the main guy, and I’ll be helping out whenever I can. Think of it as I’m the vice principal and he’s the principal.”

 

Shiro cleared his throat as if he wanted to move on. “Come with me. I’ll show you to the rest of the people you’ll be working with.”

 

Keith followed suit after Shiro and Matt. They passed down the hall with other rushed officers going to their prospective ways. They reached a large conference room with only three people sitting behind laptops around a large oval shaped table. Keith eyes lit up when he recognized two of those people…

 

“Hunk? Pidge?”

 

A polynesian heavyset man and a smaller short haired girl perked up from their computer screens. “Keith! You’re on this team too?” Hunk exclaimed with a smile.

 

Pidge, the mini version of Matt, pushed her glasses up with a smirk. “Looks like we can’t escape from each other it seems.”

 

Keith chuckled with a sheepish shrug and returned the smirk. “It must be destiny then.”

 

Shiro looked at the three of them with surprise. “So you all know each other?”

 

Hunk nodded excitedly. “Yeah we were study buddies when we were trying to pass the exams!”

 

Matt went over to Pidge and clasped a hand on her shoulder. “So that means you must have used my sister to pass your exams huh?”

 

“What? No! We just helped each other!” Keith exclaimed not wanting to lose his credibility. But it finally made sense now why those two looked alike.

 

Pidge brushed off her brother’s hand and rolled her eyes. “Wow Matt, can’t you at least congratulate me that I actually tried to make friends for once?”

 

Shiro chuckled and folded his arms. "Looks like I don't really have to introduce them to you."

 

Pidge gave Shiro a playful look and smirk. "Oh no, Captain I really have no idea who this guy is. I've never seen this mullet guy who would always ask about exam questions at 4am in the morning and giving me extra shots of coffee." Shiro responded with an expressionless look, which gave her the cue to sit down and be serious. Hunk and Matt giggled in the background that ended up having Pidge kicking Hunk underneath the table and then glaring at Matt.

 

Shiro looked back at Keith. "So Pidge and Hunk are your analysts. They're the ones that lead us into missions and tell us where to go on our intercoms. They'll be an important assets to our missions. If you need help, they're usually the first people you contact."

 

 _Ahem._ Everyone turned their heads to the end of the table. A beautiful woman of darker skin and platinum white hair stood up from her chair. She walked with elegance and took her hand out for Keith. She had a light twinkle in her eyes of determination but Keith figured she was probably annoyed with the short bonding that just happened. “Lieutenant Allura Altea. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance Officer Kogane.”

 

Keith took her hand and shook it. “Altea? Are you related to the Director?”

 

“The mustache man with the weird accent?” She giggled. “Yeah, he’s my uncle.”

 

Shiro pointed out to her. “Miss Altea here will be assisting us in our new assignment as she has had experience in the field as a Staff Sergeant in the past.”

 

Allura nodded. “So when we go out on these missions I’ll be with you.”

 

Keith nodded slowly…. Then it was clicking into place. He turned to the Captain. “So does this mean that I will a field officer?”

 

Shiro nodded. “That’s right. These missions that we’ve received are directly towards us because we have been dealing with these same cases for a while.”

 

“In a way, we kind of have a reputation,” Matt added.

 

“And what kind of cases are these?” asked Keith.

 

Shiro went over to Hunk and motioned him to give him something. Hunk immediately went to his suitcase and gave him a cream colored folder. Shiro took the folders and handed it to Keith. Across the folder had the words CONFIDENTIAL in stamped in bright red. He opened the folder and his heart almost leapt to the large photo plastered on the first page…

 

“That’s our main target. The son of the Galra, Lotor.”

 

Keith swallowed a little trying to keep his composure. This is what he had been trained all his life. He was finally in the place that where he was supposed to be. He cannot mess this up. This is the very reason why Zarkon made him a faithful soldier to the Galra: becoming their enemy and learning the inner workings of their intelligence.

 

“You think you can handle it son?” Shiro asked bring Keith back to reality. “It’s going to be a dangerous mission. He has committed many heinous crimes. We hope that with your skills we can finally bring him down with concrete evidence.”

 

Keith snapped the folder shut. He looked up to the older man in the eye trying to show his obedience. He saluted. “Yes sir.”

 

Shiro chuckled and grabbed his saluting hand. Keith gasped when he realized Shiro was clasping his hand again and shaking with vigor and determination. “Welcome to Team Voltron Keith.”


	2. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith learns in more detail about his mission with his new team. Lance gets a new gadget from Matt. Both of them are suspicious that their respective groups have placed a sleeper agent with the other team. Both of them are also still hardcore pinning each other, even at the wrestling room in the gym.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do want to make note that this story is going to be very plot heavy... but it is klance-centric so... But anyway I hope you guys are still enjoying it!

“Okay let me try it again.” Hunk took in a deep breath and kept his stance steady. On the whiteboard Pidge had placed the mugshots of the main Galra that they were going to target for this mission. Out of everyone on the team, Hunk seemed to get some of them confused, which was definitely a problem if he was one of the main analysts. Pidge and Keith stood by the side of the board silently encouraging him to get all of their names.

 

Hunk pointed to the one on the left, the bigger woman with striking blue hair and tattoos. “That’s Zethra!”

 

“Ooohh so close!” Pidge jumped. “At least you got part of her name right.”

 

“It’s Zethrid,” Keith corrected. He tapped at her photo. “She’s the main muscle out of Lotor’s gang. Her fighting is really messy though as she always goes into a rage.”

 

Hunk blinked at him confused. He pointed at the mugshot next to Zethrid. “I thought that was Ally here.”

 

“Acxa,” Keith corrected again. “She’s not as messy and strong as Zethrid but she fights very swiftly and is also pretty deadly with a gun.”

 

Pidge raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Damn Keith you seem to know our targets very well. Someone’s been up studying.”

 

Yes that was exactly why he knew all their names and stats and totally not because he grew up with them for his entire life. “Guilty as charged,” Keith said as he tried to swallow his lie.

 

The door slammed opened against the wall. An older man with a ginger mustache and a suit that was much too tidy except for his rolled up sleeves stormed in with vigor. “Alright folks! Get seated we’re about to get started!” He commanded with a heavy accent. Keith almost forgot that this was the way Director Coran dealt with his meetings.

 

Pidge and Hunk quickly took down the pictures and scrambled to their seats. Keith picked up the flying papers behind them and took his seat. After Coran came Shiro, Allura and Matt balancing two trays of coffee. Pidge widened her eyes and let out grabby hands. Matt rolled his eyes and placed one tray in front of her. Immediately she took a coffee cup and began to drink in its glory.

 

“Okay Team, the Director is also here to observe what we’re doing, just so we are on the same page,” said Shiro taking his place at the end of the oval table.

 

Coran slammed his hand on the table. Keith wasn’t sure if he was angry or he was really excited his face seemed to read both. “This is a mission that has affected us for a long time! This is the time where we will finally get this case to a close!”

 

Allura patted her uncle to calm down as she used her laptop to sync it to the big screen behind Shiro. While they were setting up Matt passed out coffee to everyone with a smile. Keith was almost taken aback of how sudden of a kind gesture that was. The Sargent deserved all the good things in the world, he decided as he sipped his super bitter hot coffee.

 

When the Keynote slides appeared on the screen, Allura gave Shiro a thumbs up signaling him he was ready to go. The first slide appeared and showed two pictures of a younger version and older version of the same man. Keith stared at the older picture and a wave of nostalgia snowballed at him little by little.

 

Shiro pointed at the slide. “This is Zarkon, he was the main boss of the Galras… up until a few years ago.” Keith was trying to keep his composure when he knew exactly what he was going to say next. “He died of a heart failure with reasons unknown. All we know is that before he gave up this position he gave that to his son.” He nodded at Allura to change the slide. It flashed and there were probably the most glorious mugshots anyone has ever seen. “Lotor. He is now the new leader of the Galra.” Keith breathed slowly trying to subdue his anger for Lotor. Even in the mugshots his glorious face and hair made him look like a superstar. It was quite unfair for a ruthless criminal to even look like that, but to Keith it made him feel disgusted just seeing this perfect face because he knew what he was like on the inside.

 

Hunk raised his hand. “Okay I did not expect the boss to look like Sephiroth from Final Fantasy.”

 

Everyone rolled their eyes as they hoped Hunk wouldn’t derail the serious meeting. Except Matt who chuckled, seemingly getting his reference. “That means he will be easier to spot on the cameras yeah?”

 

Hunk lit up with reassurance. “Yup! Making our job much easier!”

 

Coran cleared his throat in annoyance and everyone got their composure back. Shiro continued. “So anyways, this guy is now our main target. He’s a lot more dangerous than Zarkon because not only does he use brute force but he is known to be manipulative especially if things do not go his way.” He nodded at Allura to change the slide. The next slides show the same mugshots of the women that Keith and Pidge were testing Hunk earlier. “These ladies, believe it or not, are his right hand women. They are just as dangerous. Take them out first, and you get Lotor.” The next slide showed a long list of facts and screenshots of Lotor’s official police records. “This guy has had a history of criminal activity including the deals and jobs that were started from his father. Robberies, murders, trafficking, you name it. Especially drug deals, that’s where most of the money is made. He’s just heightening that up to make his own empire. When Zarkon was in power they only controlled one street. Now with him, they control about five blocks.”

 

Pidge whistled in amazement. “At this rate he’s going to control the whole city huh?”

 

“We hope not. Which is why tomorrow night is going to be crucial.” Shiro signaled Allura to change the slide. It showed a photo of an old Chinese restaurant and some blueprints. Keith squinted. He felt like he has seen that building before. “We got some intel that Lotor and his gang are going to have a drug deal somewhere inside this building.” The next slide showed photos of a man and a woman which Keith also immediately recognized as he briefly had been with drug exchanges with them. “We suspect that they’re going to go to Rolo and Nyma, their biggest suppliers. This is how they get most of their revenue. So back to the building,” the slide flashed back to the Chinese restaurant, “We will be parked just a few blocks and Allura, Keith, and I will be the ones to stop their deal. As soon as they make the exchange is when we go in and catch them red handed. Be expected that this place is going to be highly infested with their goons since they own the place, so once we step foot on there,” he looked at Keith briefly and Keith perked up at the eye contact, “We’re going to be extra careful.”

 

Keith nodded in response.

 

Pidge shot her hand up. “Question! How do you know the deal is going to happen tomorrow? Isn’t that so soon?”

 

Coran chuckled and crossed his arms at her. “My dear Katie, there’s going to be some things that we the higher ups have an advantage of when we do our research.” He pointed at Shiro and Matt. “I assigned these two to also supervise for the undercover unit. Right now they sent a mole with the Galras. Unfortunately, only these two know who they are, even I don’t know who it is.”

 

Matt jumped in. “The reason why we do that is so it keeps them from bringing their identity safe from the Galra if they ever find out there’s a someone in their ranks.”

 

“How will we know which one is the mole if none of us know their identity?” asked Allura.

 

“Then…. Unfortunately you’re just going to have to do what is best,” Shiro sighed. “If you’re caught in a gun point with them and you have to pull the trigger, then you have to pull the trigger.” He looked around the room to see a sea of worried faces. “But it will be fine, Matt and I will make sure they do their job and they keep it on the downlow.” He eyed at Matt and Matt gave him a thumbs up as if they were exchanging some kind of secret telepathic communication. Shiro turned back to his team. “Alright team, after the break we’re going to go over each role and practice the plan. Any questions?” Exchanges of silent head shaking answered Shiro. “Alright I’ll see you guys back after lunch.”

 

As the rest of the group stretched and went onto their idle chatter Keith immediately left the room and down the hallway. He threw away the half full coffee to hurry to the elevator. Luckily no one was in there. He got in and punched the lobby floor. He didn’t really have a destination to go, he just needed to get away somewhere where he can think and send a message to-

 

A hand stopped the elevator doors from closing and the doors parted to see Allura’s smiling face. “Lobby?”

 

“Uh yeah,” Keith stammered. Now was not the time for small talk. He really really need to get away especially from someone on his team.

 

When the doors closed Allura stood next to Keith with firm posture. She seemed way too confident that it kind of scared Keith a little. He tried to ignore her when-

 

“Are you going to get lunch? Do you want to get it together?” She asked suddenly.

 

Keith was unfortunately not the best in these kinds of situations in general so he just gave her a half assed answer. “I just ate,” he said dryly.

  

“Oh.”

 

Awkward silence ensued. Why was this building so large? Or more like why was this elevator so slow? “It’s just I have a lot of errands to do. It’s really hard when you just moved to a new place and things aren’t settled and I have to organize and-”

 

Allura waved her hand to reassure him. “Oh it’s okay, no worries. I understand how that can be when you’re new to the area and such. We can always do it some other time. We’re going to get very close for this case.”

 

 _Ding._ Finally they got to the lobby. Allura stepped out and waved back at Keith. “I’ll see you when we get back Keith!”

 

Keith waved back and realized the elevator almost closed in on him. Trying to hide his embarrassment he ran out of the building and hid behind pillar. He got out his old flip phone and scrolled through his contacts until he got to Acxa. He hastily called her. When tones got  through he looked around to make sure no one was around. He was all alone it seemed. “Park alley way. 10 minutes.”

 

* * *

 

“Don’t use your phone to call next time.” Acxa kickled a can across the alley and it hit the brick wall.

 

This particular alleyway wasn’t the best meeting place since it was filled with grime, trash and rats but at least no other people would want to be here. It was also dark enough from the shadows of the tall buildings which made it easier to conduct quick meetings. Keith was even surprised that the police haven’t even found this spot yet.

 

“Messages are just as bad. At least they’re floating around in the atmosphere.”

 

“I don’t think that’s how data works stupid.” Acxa leaned against the building. She rummaged through her pockets and got out a cigarette. She offered Keith one and he shook his head. “Aw, Keith is turning into a boy scout huh? Well slow down officer you’re still one of us.” She lit the cigarette a brief flash of fire and then died quickly. She inhaled soaking in all the goodness before she spoke again. “So what do you want Keith?”

 

“I’m just curious…. Do you know anyone else Lotor has planted at the station?”

 

Acxa scoffed. “Are you serious? You really  think I’d know that?”

 

“You’re his right hand woman, you know this better than everyone else does.”

 

“That doesn’t mean I know everything. I’m not Siri.”

 

“Alright then do you guys have any idea that there’s a mole with you?”

 

Acxa seemed to stop breathing for a while. She spoke slowly just to be sure. “A mole?”

 

“Today was the first meeting,” Keith said as he put his back against the wall standing right next to Acxa, “we got information Lotor is planning to do a drug exchange tomorrow night at the old Chinese restaurant down Balmera street. There were even blueprints and your photos. They even figured out Rolo and Nyma is going to be the buyers. How the hell would they get that information? I sure didn't know anything about this until now.”

 

“Holy shit…”

 

“Acxa, someone there is an imposter. You need to tell this to Lotor now or else we’re all going to be in trouble.”

 

Acxa threw her cigarette across the alleyway. She leaned her head and stared up at the bright blue sky. Soft clouds floated across the bright blue sky. “Alright. I’ll tell him what you told me.” She leaned her head until she was making eye contact with Keith. Even in the darkness of the alley Keith could see her twinkling eyes. “If you’re lying, you’re fucking dead and Lotor will make sure of it.”

 

Keith let a small smile even though Acxa probably couldn’t see it. Classic Acxa, of course she’d never change. “Not unless I beat Lotor to death first.”

 

Acxa scoffed and got herself up and then turned to Keith again, “We’ll be on high alert. And you,” she pointed her finger straight as his chest and poked it, “you better be on high alert too. You tell us what they do, every minute, every second. You’re a hawk.”

 

Keith nodded. “Yes ma’am.”

 

 

* * *

“Rolo and Nai-ma?” Lance pronounced her name slowly as Narti tapped out the names for him. Sometimes when they communicated it did get difficult when Lance didn’t get any auditory information and he relied heavily on translating the taps to his brain.

 

Narti shook her head in disappointment. “ _Nyma. The ‘y’ is stretched out like a long e.”_

 

“Alright alright but do I have to know about them? Am I even going to talk to them?” Lance pointed at an old photo of seemingly of a house party with the red cups at some dark living room. There were many people in there and in the middle of the photo was a cute couple of the girl kissing the guy on the cheek and the guy having the time of his life.

 

_“You might. Lotor really wants you on this job so you better shape up and impress all of them. I’m not sure what you’re going to do, but since he likes you he might have you stay next to his side and keep watch.”_

 

Lance couldn’t help himself grin. “Dang L’oreal already giving me a higher up in the ranks huh? At this rate I’ll probably climb myself up to the top of the food chain.”

 

 _“Don’t get your hopes up wonderboy. This is just the beginning. Think of this as the actual test with Lotor being close at hand.”_ Kova sprawled on the table ruining the organized photos and documents Lance put earlier. Lance groaned at the cat ruining his handiwork. Narti seemed to silently laugh and pet her cat. She tapped again. _“How’s your arm? Can you still shoot?”_

 

Lance glanced down at his right hand in sloppy makeshift bandages. The other day when Lotor crushed his arm he really couldn’t move at all, he was stiff as stiff could get. Today was not any better but he tried to convince himself that at least he can move his fingers. “It will be fine, I can at least move my finger to pull the trigger.” He looked at Narti when he realized why she asked. “Thanks… for caring.”

 

_“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?”_

 

Lance forgot that even though she was technically a member of the Galra she was still decent in her heart. He was going to compliment her more when muffled voices could be heard in the halls of their base.

 

_“Acxa is back.”_

 

“Okay that is really creepy that you can even tell what they’re saying this far away.”

 

_“Oh? A mole?”_

 

“Huh?” Lance peered out the threshold of the doorway. A few feet ahead of them Axca was talking with Lotor in seemingly hushed voices.

 

Narti kept tapping trying to keep up to date. _“Sounds like the cops are up to date.”_

 

“What do you mean?” Lance asked as he looked back at her.

 

_“Looks like we won’t be the only ones at the exchange. It’s going to be Rolo, Nyma and-”_

 

“-the cops. They have seem to figure us out.” Lance jumped in surprise to suddenly see Lotor standing right outside of the door. He took a step back and bowed quickly in respect. Lotor didn’t seem to notice though. He took a step into the study room they were in. “Looks like we’ve been caught but that’s not going to stop us. And that there seems to be a bird in our nest that won’t stop chitter chattering.” Lance could feel himself breaking into cold sweat. Lotor was getting too dangerously close by now. He formed a toothy smirk. “But I’m pretty sure they don’t know that we know this information.”

 

Lance furrowed his eyebrows. He did have a point. How did they know that they were going to have a deal exchange tomorrow and so soon too? Something wasn’t adding right. He needed to ask Matt and Shiro later…

 

“Lance.” Lance was interrupted by his thoughts when Lotor turned to him. He patted heavily on his right side and Lance tried his hardest not to show that he was still hurt. “You and Narti are going to be on lookout. You’ve been itching to try out your sniper skills isn’t that right?”

 

Lance took in a small breath trying to register what happened. Lotor just assigned him a position for this job. The notorious crime boss just assigned him to be his sniper. “Yes sir.”

 

He patted harshly on his right arm again and Lance bit his lip to stop him from yelping in pain. “And you can do this with your left hand right? Just one arm is fine!”

 

“Yeah sure…” Lance said meekly.

 

Lotor turned to Narti. “Narti, he’s in your hands.”

 

She responded in sign.

 

“I’m sorry darling but you’re just going to have to be his sitter a little longer. We’re taking baby steps.”

 

Lotor left with Acxa waiting outside of the hallways. He spoke to her as they walked. “We will have to find who this traitor is, if there is one….”

 

When they finally left Lance quickly turned to Narti and asked, “Is it okay if I can be excused?”

 

_“You don’t need to ask my permission.”_

 

He saluted to her and then he remembered she can’t see him do that. “You the best Narti.” He ran out of the room and down to the other side of the hallway. Down the stairs he sent a distress signal to Shiro on the old flip phone the police gave him.

* * *

 

“How the hell do they know? How do they know this information already?” Lance shouted and waving his arms in distress.

 

Matt tried to calm and shush him down. Lance’s voice kept echoing in the underpass of a bridge but there didn’t seem to be anyone around except the ducks in the river nearby. This probably wasn’t the best meetup spot since it was out in the open as passing cars on the highway above could see them.

 

Shiro leaned against the wall of an archway and was deep in thought. “This has to be a coincidence,” Shiro said finally.

 

“No! It is not a coincidence!” Lance stomped his foot and the shocks sent through his right side and he hunched over in pain.

 

Matt quickly came to his aid. “Lance did you do these bandages yourself? This is a horrible job. What happened?”

 

Lance tried to think of something that wouldn’t sound stupid for the case of his injury. “I wrestled with the big bad wolf.”

 

“Did you win?”

 

“Hell yeah I did. His head is hanging right above my door.”

 

Matt rolled his eyes and pushed him to the side. “Take your arm out.” He got his first aid kid and started to work.

 

Lance frowned as Matt undid his bandages to wrap him a new cast. He turned to Shiro. “One of his girls was talking to him and I may not have the best deducting skills but I can suspect that is when she told him.”

 

“Who was it?” Shiro asked.

 

“Acxa.”

 

Shiro pondered some more. “How would Acxa know that then?”

 

“Because Captain!” Lance threw his arms up again and Matt tried to bring his right arm down gently. He continued to slowly wrap his arm. “You guys have a mole.”

 

Matt snorted and laughed. “Really? They’re that smart to place a mole in our facilities?”

 

“We would have staked them out at this point,” Shiro added. “We would have reviewed everyone that entered into the academy so there’s no way we could have missed that.”

 

Lance shrugged. “I don’t know man. You said it yourself when you assigned me to be your rat. He’s smart as fuck. He knows what’s going on.” Lance paused. “He is already suspecting there’s mole among them.”

 

“Shit,” Matt hissed under his breath.

 

Shiro went up to him to give him a reassuring pat. “It’s okay Matt, it’s going to be fine. He doesn’t know exactly who it is.”

 

“No it’s not that I casted this too tightly.” Matt nodded towards Lance’s arm. He glanced at it and it seemed to be cleaner and tighter. A way better job then he would have done. But looking at Matt’s eyes, Lance knew that wasn’t why he was upset. In fact the cast wasn’t even tight at all. It was just right.

 

“Matt,” Lance started, “he’s not going to find me. He’s already made me his first class sniper so I’ll be on his side at all times. There’s no way he will suspect me.”

 

Matt raised his eyebrows in disbelief. “Well let’s hope so.” He dug into his bag to find something else. “How’s your morse code coming along?”

 

“Eh, I’m more better at listening than the actual tapping.”

 

“Well you’re going to have to practice on your tapping.” Matt brought out two black sports gloves that looked like the normal gloves you would find at a sports store. He pointed at their fingertips. “When you put your fingers together even with the slightest movement you can make messages instantly and I'll be able to get them. So it will look like you are resting your fingers together but with a little pressure you can make the codes this way.” He demonstrated by showing his own fingers and pressing them together very gently and lightly spelling out the words _“Like this.”_ “Pidge and I worked on this for about 6 months and now you get to be the first to test out the prototype.”

 

He handed them to Lance but Lance only looked at him with concern. “Should you test your prototype right now when the stakes are like super high because, I don’t know? WE’RE HAVING A DRUG DEAL TOMORROW?”

 

Matt put his finger to Lance’s lips to shush him. “If you don’t trust me or Pidge then get out. We’ve worked hard on this day and night and have run many tests on it.” He leaned closer and he was getting really serious and Lance was getting really nervous. “Just. Wear. The. Damn. Gloves.”

 

Lance looked down at the gloves. They certainly do look like they would work from all the hard work the Holt siblings put in but that wasn’t the point. Everything was coming way too fast. The fact that the Galras just accepted him was enough but now knowing that the Galra know there might be a mole among them worried Lance. How they found this out so quickly was beyond Lance. The only other explanation is that there really is someone from the Galra working for the police.

 

“Lance we’re counting on you.” Shiro took a step forward and nodded to give him reassurance. “We chose you for this mission because we have faith in you. We believe you're the best candidate for this mission. You can talk your way into things and you help us out in need. We need you as that team player.”

 

Lance glanced up not having it. “And as your team player, would you at least take my word and find out who your mole is?”

 

Shiro let out a heavy sigh. “We don’t know for sure if there is one.”

 

“Well there is-”

 

“I’m not done!” Shiro raised his voice which was Lance’s cue to shut up. “We don’t know. If we would know then we would take him out already. There’s no way he’s going to fly under our radar.”

 

Lance scoffed. “Not unless I take him out first with the head shot.” He used his left hand and imitated a gun blowing his head off with a puff of his mouth. “They don’t call me the sharpshooter at the academy for nothing.”

 

Shiro smiled and crossed his arms again. “That’s the Lance I know.”

 

Matt looked back at Shiro then at Lance. He had a worried and distressed look on his face, a face Lance did not expect right now. “Lance.” He placed his hand on his shoulder and shook it. “Please just be careful. If it’s getting too dangerous, don’t hesitate to contact us. We will get you out as soon as possible. We’re here for you.”

* * *

 

The still bean bag dangled in front of Keith. He tried to imagine Lotor’s face plastered on the top of the bag. He imagined his beautiful smug face looking down at him with a condescending glare.

 

He corrected his fighting stance with feet shoulder-width apart and kept his eyes up to where Lotor’s face would be. He threw a punch. The bean bag swung gently. He threw another punch, this time harder. The bean bag swung in the same gentle momentum. He could imagine Lotor probably laughing cynically in the background calling him the pathetic piece of shit that he was.

 

Keith grunted and threw more harder and faster punches. He kept imagining the bag as Lotor and the harder he landed his punches on that twisted face. He yelled into a rage as he got faster and faster until the bean bag swung so hard it slammed him in the stomach and sent him flying. Keith groaned as he landed on the gym mat. He winced in pain as he turned over to lay on his back. He relaxed his muscles, let loose of the tension. He watched the dust dance on the single blinding light of the wrestling room in peace. He needed that. He needed to let all of that out. Even though he was far away from Lotor now he could still feel like no matter how far he went, he was always nearby. It was like a ghost constantly haunting him and Keith had no idea how to escape from that. From the Galra and from him.

 

“Uh hello?” A voice called out in the dark wrestling room. “Is anyone here?”

 

Keith cocked his head over to the entrance of the room. A silhouette of a taller man stood at the doorway with the light from the halls shining behind him. He waved at him with his boxing gloves. “Yup. I’m about to head home though.”

 

“Do you need help?” The man walked closer to Keith.

 

Keith tried to get himself up slowly. “No I’m good I’ll be…” His voice trailed off as he sat up.

 

The man got closer into the light and Keith realized this was the same man that was looking for the cat on that early morning. “Well, if it isn’t the cat hero.” He put his hand on his protruding hip in a sassy like fashion.

 

Keith couldn’t help but form a wide smile. He couldn’t believe the cute guy was right in front of him again. “Well if it isn’t the cat sitter.” The man giggled as Keith bought himself up. He was now looking at him directly in the eyes and Keith could feel his pulse faster not from the workout he just did but from his gorgeous blue eyes. “So you frequent this gym too?”

 

“In doses here and there. I usually do the whole set of cardio and weights. No weights today though.” He pointed out his arm which was wrapped in a cast. “But I got a pretty good cardio workout just now on the treadmills.”

 

Keith’s heart almost sank seeing him hurt. It hurt him too. “What happened are you alright?” Without thinking, he reached his hand out to touch the cast but then quickly pulled back when he realized that was too weird.

 

The man laughed a little and scratched his head. Keith couldn’t tell if he was blushing or it was the lighting of the red wrestling room. “Yeah it will be fine. I got into a fight?”

 

Keith frowned. Who was this person that he need to kill? “Was it someone at the office?”

 

The man looked up to think and nodded. “Yeah.”

 

Keith punched his boxing gloves together. “Lead me to him and I’ll knock his brains out.”

 

The man laughed again. The more Keith listened to this laugh the more he loved hearing it. “I really appreciate it but I think we’re good now.”

 

Keith shook his head but grinned. “Alright but if that asshole ever messes with you again you better call me.”

 

As Keith was about to take off his gloves the man stepped in. “That’s a great idea. What’s your number?” Keith almost froze. The man also seemed to realize what he just said and started stammering and turning redder than the red room. “Not that I want your number for any other reasons other than getting some with you-I MEAN-the guy that beat me up. I MEAN!” The man let out a long sigh then he looked up Keith and gave him the cutest embarrassed smile. “What’s your number?”

 

Keith tried to control his uncontrollable giggling. “Give me a sec,” he said winking. He ran back to his backpack to search furiously for his phone. He couldn’t believe this guy was asking for his number already. In a gym that no one goes to. He got out his phone-no not the flip phone-he quickly put it back. He searched harder for his smartphone and he could hear the man's footsteps coming up behind him.

 

“Is everything alright?”

 

“Yup!” Keith spun around with the right phone in his hands. He handed it to him with shaky hands. When he eyed the man’s cast he quickly retrieved the phone back. “Oh I should probably do it for you since you’re-”

 

The man took the phone out of Keith’s hands with his casted arm. “I’m hurt but that doesn’t mean I’m useless.” Keith hoped he didn’t offend the guy as the man went into his pocket and gave him his phone. “Put your digits in too if you don’t mind,” he said with wink.

 

Keith could feel his face getting hotter but he tried to play to cool by adding in his information in the man’s phone. They exchanged the phones back when they were done. Keith looked over at the man’s name… “Lance?”

 

Lance flashed a grin. “That’d be me. At your service.” He pointed at himself and then groaned when he used his handicapped arm. Keith tried to help him out but he tried to hold it back as he didn’t want to make the first move so quickly. Lance looked at his phone and then looked back at Keith. “And you’re Keith.”

 

Keith nodded and bit his lip. “Yup.”

 

“Well I’m glad I can formally call you by your name instead of that cute guy that rescued the cat.”

 

Keith tried to internally hold back his screaming feelings. He couldn’t believe this entire time Lance thought he was cute? “I mean unless you want to call me that…” he muttered.

 

Lance chuckled. “That’d be too long. I think Keith is better. It’s a good name.”

 

Keith smiled. “Thanks Lance. I’m glad I can finally know your name too.”

 

Lance looked back at the wrestling room. “Well the gym is about to close real soon. But are you like a boxer in training?”

 

“No I just do it for fun. It gives me something to do to keep me up with my fitness.”

 

“Just like with your super early morning runs?”

 

Keith laughed almost forgetting that he knew that about him. “That’s part of it too.”

 

Lance jogged to the middle of the room and motioned Keith to come over. Keith jogged after him to face directly in front of him. “So do you frequently wrestle with people too?”

 

Keith shrugged. “I haven’t done that in forever.” That was the truth. The last time he did was with Zethrid before Lotor sent him off to the police academy.

 

Lance put his legs apart in the standard wrestling stance. “Believe it or not I used to be a good wrestler in high school.”

 

Keith raised an eyebrow in amusement. He got himself in the wrestler stance mirroring Lance’s. “Oh really? So we got ourselves a professional here.”

 

Lance scoffed in pride. “Wouldn’t call myself a professional but we did win nationals a couple of-” before he could finish he was suddenly on his back.

 

Keith had grabbed his torso and flipped him over on his back.  Keith put his whole body above Lance and looked down on top of him. “If you were a professional you would stop talking and knock me over just like what I did now.” His voice was low and smooth when Keith realized that he might have been going a little bit too hard into this.

 

Lance gave him a smug smile. “Looks like I’ve been caught.” He stared into Keith’s eyes and Keith felt like he could fall in love quickly with his eyes. His eyelashes were quite long for a guy which really accentuated his eyes. He began to notice that Lance's face was extremely smooth and pure as if he took good care of it. He wondered what it would be like to touch his skin... or even kiss his cheek... Or was that going too fast? Keith wasn’t sure anymore.

 

Lance squeezed his eyes and let out a cry in pain. Keith looked over and realized he pinned his hands on his wrists. On Lance’s casted arm. He quickly got up. “Oh my God I’m so sorry. I completely forgot.” He took his hand out to help him up. “I’ll repay you for that.”

 

Lance grabbed his hand with his good hand. Keith realized how soft his hand was and didn't want to let go of it. “What did you have in mind?” He lifted an eyebrow and gave him a grin. This guy was too much for Keith’s heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> special shoutout to my friend/wife for double checking grammar and reading over my stories @ahmajikis on twitter and ahamajikis.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> My family and I really love the HK movie Infernal Affairs and I was like MAN THIS IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR KLANGST LMAO. If you haven't seen the movie it's really good (imo it's better than the American remake The Departed but it's still just as good). 
> 
> But anyway I hope you enjoy this and hopefully more chapters will be released in the future (esp with the hype that season 4 is coming in October!). Just fyi updates may be slow for this semester because I need to focus on my jobs and grad school apps so please bear with me for a bit! I really hope I can finish this fic someday!!


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